Monday, August 31, 2009

“What’s the best part about living in Bermuda?” It’s probably the most common question I'm asked. So many things I can say with all honesty, but perhaps the best of the bunch is the island’s proximity to the east coast and the opportunity to share my island home with vacationing friends and family. I already told you about when my niece’s came to visit (along with their respective parents and grandparents, of course)—how we visited the aquarium, made sandcastles at Horseshoe Bay, ate fish sandwiches at the Swizzle Inn. Fortunately my wife and I got to do it all over again when old friends from New York, Boston, and Atlanta paid us a visit last weekend. In town to celebrate an 80th birthday, the multigenerational family of sixteen stayed at Willowbank Resort, a non-denominational Christian hotel on Bermuda’s west end (after all, the birthday girl’s husband was the priest who married us!). With rooms starting at $149 a night, it’s probably one of the sweetest deals in town. Best of all, it was in the perfect location to begin a full-island bus tour, an excursion booked through the Public Transportation Board of all places. Who knew public busses could be chartered? And driven by such pleasant and knowledgeable tour guides? I for one didn’t, until I started calling around on behalf of my guests. What resulted was a four-hour tour on a bubble-gum-colored public bus—by far the most informational endeavor I’ve embarked upon since moving to Bermuda.Our driver was a jokester named Swain, a delightful guide who regaled us in tales historical and otherwise (like when he pulled over to pick a branch of the spruce tree, what his mother used to call The Rod of Correction. Ouch!). We took in the breeze at lovely John Smith’s Bay (see above) and even explored the town of St. George and historic St. Peter’s, the oldest continually used church in the Western Hemisphere. In the end it was yet another wonderful weekend with friends. I’m just glad it could happen here in Bermuda.

about the author

is a Bermuda-based travel writer and television correspondent. To read his work visit DavidLaHuta.com or to follow him on Twitter visit Twitter.com/DavidLaHuta. Visiting Bermuda? Read his story, 36 Hours in Bermuda, which appeared in the New York Times travel section in September 2009 (http://bit.ly/36HoursBermuda) and Jetsetter's The Many Faces of Bermuda, which ran in January 2011 (http://bit.ly/FacesOfBDA).